Back to Square One

How do you unlove a person?

The latest blockbuster hit from Star Cinema "Starting Over Again" employs a simple-structured plot that have surely been presented in the silver screen before. Themes of closure, happy endings and moving heavens and earth to win back the love of your life had already been accepted as vital elements of a blockbuster hit, and anything that revolves around these themes will be considered a passé and obsolete.

But Starting Over Again managed to turn things around in presenting the so-called merits of the case. It did so by trying to find an answer to the penultimate question of unloving a person and erasing the memories of the past. Along the process, it showed the difficulties that come with it, especially so that time and destiny seem to be in tandem in rekindling the old flame. Both the lead actors Piolo Pascual and Toni Gonzaga gave justice to their characters. Some films failed on banking on professional pretenders plainly acting as themselves but in the two-hour romantic flick, we don't perceive them as Pascual and Gonzaga, but as Marco and Ginny, respectively.

I first weighed on the film's effectiveness loosely on the characters but reflecting the entire Film on my way back home, I think such great film as Starting Over Again credits its success to a good story material that was presented in such a meticulously-planned pacing. It didn't bother its audience with the problem of finding the causes of why things ended up that way. You just sat there and be blown by the turn of events and lo and behold, you just found yourselves the answers to the questions that's been running in your minds since the beginning of the film. It was never a spoon-feeding film nor a formulaic step-by-step build-up, but rather it was able to move on with the flow of the story by offering a trip down memory lane which further nailed the story.

What I find amusing is how they were able to create a fictional love letter-sending website where one letter sent by Marco to Ginny became the latter's springboard to win back the love of her life. Such a tricky move, considering that she's the one that got away in the first place. Such letter pokes her to reality and embarked her on almost false hope. Ah, what love can do!

The film's true-to-the-core narrative was effective maybe because we can connect or relate to each of the characters. We can maybe connect to the fact that we are passionate about pursuing our dreams that we forgot the ones dear to us, or the other way around. We can maybe connect through the fact that along the process of loving somebody too much, we lose ourselves and forget the world won't stop revolving without them. We can also relate because when you miss someone or love someone too much, every little thing reminds you of your love.

But as what the movie tried to answer, how do you really unlove a person?

You can't. You don't. There's always this one person that no matter how hard you try to forget, you fail. It's because this person has become an integral part of your being. You may end up with someone in the future, but there's always this person you wished you could be together in the end. Or that someone you wish could join you in everything you do whether in traveling, dining out, spend weekends with, or better yet, spend forever with.

While there are dreams that really do come true, there also those that remain as such. You can work hard for it to turn into reality, but when things don't go well the way you planned, don't fret. Acceptance holds the key to moving, closures and happy endings as what Starting Over Again tried to impart.

So when Ginny finally decided to hit the delete button and move on, it was truly the greatest gift she had given herself. More than that, it's actually the peace of mind, knowing that she won't sleep with regrets because she had given her all. It's like playing Flappy Bird: you get annoyed, you get depressed, but you have no choice but to dust yourself off and move on. It's definitely tiring to go back to square one, but it's the only practical thing to do.

L.